At 10:35 our Team Leader was contacted by the Team Leader of Oldham MRT on behalf of GMP to step up the search effort which had started the previous evening, in connection with a missing 13 year old girl from the Fitton Hill area of Oldham. The Oldham MRT had been out the previous evening along with Police with the search being scaled up late morning today to involve Oldham MRT, our team, and the Rossendale & Pendle MRT alongside major GMP resources including Tactical Aid Units and the Underwater Search Unit.

Bolton MRT members ’milling’ with the Joint Underwater Search Unit

21 Bolton members were able to respond on this weekday, worktime callout, including our search dog handler and search dog Chi. The Bolton MRT personnel started their search areas at 13:19, concluding at around 18:00. Overall, the search effort was concentrated in and around the Alexandra Park area, and on the estate around the missing teenager’s home. With the MRT search efforts reaching a negative conclusion by early evening the happy news was received that the missing young teenager had been found by a member of the public, unharmed, in the Oldham town centre area (as a result of the massive media effort surrounding this search). The girl was reunited with her parents, ending with a happy conclusion to this search.

Members searching Alexandra Park, Oldham.

Given that we are only 2 and a half months into the New Year, the team is already in its 8^th busiest year for incidents since formation in 1968, greatly surpassing all totals for any similar period in the entire team’s history.